The Sun unveils World Cup themed ad
The Sun has unveiled its World Cup advertisement, featuring a minute-long rousing rendition of the Elvis hit ’If I Can Dream’, fronted by the paper’s football columnist and former England Manager Terry Venables.
The ad, which had been kept under wraps until Saturday, aired during ’Britain’s Got Talent’ and showed the star football pundit singing his heart out to the classic track. The ad was filmed at Wembley stadium and is backed by the 60 piece Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a full backing choir.
The paper’s other star football columnists Ian Wright and Harry Redknapp make guest appearances in the choir – as the three columnists became the Three Tenors. The ad wascreated by agency WCRS and Venables underwent several weeks of intense training with a professional vocal coach to enable him to perform the stirring gospel-inspired hit to a professional standard.
News International’s Rob Painter, who has led the campaign in his role as interim marketing director for The Sun, says: “This advert is just the start of a truly inspiring World Cup campaign from The Sun.
“When Terry Venables agreed to sing this rousing anthem we knew this was the start of something unique that only a brand like The Sun could convincingly deliver.
“With our advert standing alongside our outstanding editorial content, exciting digital activity and our best-in-class offers and promotions, The Sun is set to capture and ignite the mood of the nation like no other brand during this summer’s tournament. Who knows? Maybe, just maybe, 2010 might just be our year…”
The ad includes a second star appearing over the Three Lions England badge – something that the England team would add if it was successful in winning this summer’s tournament. The stars will remain a key feature of the paper’s campaign alongside the end-line ’Maybe, Just Maybe”, daring fans to back the England team and dream that 2010 might just be England’s year.
A series of TV ads will be complemented by a mix of Press, Posters, PR, DM, online advertising and social media, all as well as supporting exciting promotions and editorial features which will roll out over the next three months.
The campaign will be supported digitally with a Facebook hub featuring all kinds of exclusive content including behind the scenes footage of Terry’s journey as he goes through voice coaching and training to recording with the Royal Philharmonic through to the shooting of the ad itself. The online aspects of the campaign will be managed by Glue London and i-Level.
